Summer Session - Recommendations and Advice

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Los Angeles
1

<p>Hey all, </p>

<p>Sorry for the late question (night-owl here), but I was wondering whether anyone could share their personal experiences with me regarding the following professors for Economics/Statistics at UCLA: </p>

<p>Sproul for Econ 11
Rojas for Econ 41
Buddin for Econ 101</p>

<p>I've gleaned little snippets here and there about their instructional methods and such, but I'd really like for someone to tell me the level of difficulty of each class, the amount of time required outside of class in order to fully comprehend the material, and the most effective ways of studying for each of the professors' exams.</p>

<p>I am coming into this as someone who has not yet taken any Math beyond Algebra II in high school. Shameful, even blasphemous, yes I know. Fortunately, though, I have a natural aptitude for mathematics. Today I started teaching myself about derivatives, and in an hour fully grasped how to find partial derivatives (not much of an achievement, but it's pretty good for someone like me). </p>

<p>The only foreseeable problem which may arise from this extemporaneous solution is that my mind just loves to question things all the time, and I wouldn't know why I am doing what I am doing, which drives me insane! Even though I know how to fully work and solve these problems, why I am doing it (I ask myself), I do not know (but isn't that why people get into math in the first place - to save themselves from doing too much thinking lol XD). </p>

<p>Anyway, just wondering if there was anyone out there who could provide me with some sort of head-up concerning each professor and what I should look out for. I'd highly appreciate it, and would be very grateful, if a kind-hearted person were to find it in themselves to do so. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Shameless self-bump</p>

3

<p>My post from another thread on sproul</p>

<p>“Sproul bases his tests on his lectures. There is no need to buy the book for his class. When I took it during the winter, it was 3 quizzes that were worth 20 % each, a 35 % final, and a 5 % misc category that consisted of a note taking assignment, and writing something for his online textbook. The quizzes are 15 multiple choice and 1 short answer. I just studied my notes and got around 18-20 on each quiz. I have no idea how I did on the final, but since I got an A in the class I believe I did fine. I would basically just memorize lecture notes until I could reproduce graphs and solve problems without any outside help.”</p>

<p>Math required for the class - Almost none, just know how to do basic derivatives.
Difficulty in my opinion is easy if you study the lecture notes. I would spend about 2-4 hours the night before a quiz memorizing his lecture notes.</p>

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<p>I’ll memorize the lecture notes to a tee. Also, I got the book right now, and, I must say, it’s a pretty dense book (takes a couple readthroughs to understand some sections). What’s the difference between his class and lecture notes, and the actual material in the book? Are his lectures self-contained, or would it be mandatory to look into the text for reference…? And thank you for responding.</p>